The Holy Xenofon, the owner, who is holding the Monastery in his left hand, while giving his blessing with his right.

The Great Xenofon
the Founder

The Great Xenofon the Founder

The Great Xenofon the Founder had always been honoured as a saint, and is connected with the beginnings of the historical presence of the Monastery. He is mentioned together with the Athonite saints in the oldest known catalogue of them, which is included in the 18th century work The Garden of Graces by Kaisarios Dapontes. Xenofon the Founder is included in all the relevant studies of Athonite history, starting with the 1701 Pilgrim’s Book of Ioannos Komninos.
In 1998, during the events organized to celebrate the thousand-year anniversary of the Monastery, the Great Xenofon was officially added to the list of saints of the Orthodox Church by the Synod of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, in accordance with the relevant normal procedure for such an action. The date for the honouring of his memory was set at 24 April, while a relevant liturgical service was also decided.

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The Great Xenofon
Τhe Senator

The Great Xenofon Τhe Senator

Among the honoured saints of the Monastery, the Great Xenofon the Senator is included as the earliest. According to the long-standing traditions of the Monastery, this Saint, depicted in the company of other members of his family in a portable icon of the Monastery, is its original founder. The memory of the Great Xenofon is celebrated on 26 January.

The Marble icon screen
of the new cathedral

The Marble icon screen of the new cathedral

The elaborately-decorated marble icon screen stands out in the interior of the cathedral. It was made, along with the Abbot’s throne and the canopy above the altar, from 1845 to 1847 by marble sculptors from Tinos, with marble brought from the quarry of Kavsokalybios on the island. In his book about Mt Athos, Kosmos Blachos examines the construction and artistic quality of the icon screen, and concludes that ‘because of its magnificent simplicity, it is incomparable.’

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Other Important Icons

Other Important Icons

Among the artefacts of the Monastery, the 12th-century icon of the Theotokou Odigitrias (The Mother of God, the Guide), and another icon, a depiction of the Transfiguration made from steatite (soapstone) and dated to the 13th century, are of particular interest. These icons are found in the sacristy of the Monastery, and can be viewed by visitors.

The icon of the 'Theotokos Odigitria' (Virgin Mary the Guidance).

Panagia Hodigitria
(‘The Virgin Mary, The Guide’)

Panagia Hodigitria (‘The Virgin Mary, The Guide’)

In the gilded, wood-carved shrine at the left column of the central nave of the new cathedral is the miraculous icon of Panagia Hodigitria (‘The Virgin Mary, the Guide’), dated to the 14th century. This icon had been in the Vatopedios Monastery until 1730, when ‘despite locked doors’, the icon miraculously ‘left’ and went to the cathedral of the Xenofontos Monastery. The icon was retrieved by the Vatopedion fathers and secured in their Monastery, but the same miracle was repeated two more times; the fathers of both monasteries agreed that the Virgin Mary had in effect offered her icon to the Xenofontos Monastery.
The wondrous arrival of the icon is celebrated with a festival on the first Sunday of October, and the protection of the Virgin is made evident by the the fragrance of myrrh which it miraculously emits periodically, and by the many miracles attributed to it.

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St Georgios The ‘Dysuritis’

St Georgios The ‘Dysuritis’

On the right column in front of the icon screen of the new cathedral is the miraculous icon of St Georgios. According to the Monastery tradition, the icon had been thrown into a fire by the iconoclasts but was not damaged. Since it had managed in a miraculous way to remain unharmed, a soldier struck the icon with his sword, ‘wounding’ the jaw of the Saint, from which spot blood began to flow. This blood is still preserved today.
To protect it from the iconoclasts,, the faithful subsequently threw the icon into the sea; it later washed ashore at the beach of the (then) small monastery of St Dimitrios, to whom the Monastery had originally been dedicated. At the spot on the beach where the holy icon had rested, a spring of mineral water began to flow. This particular type of mineral water was known to cure dysuoria, resulting in the designation of the saint as ‘Dysuritis’. The fathers of the Monastery brought the icon to the Monastery, and dedicated the new cathedral to the memory of St Georgios.